Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[aprinceton]

Hi,
Sorry I've been posting a lot lately! I want to be sure I'm ready when I get my 2 chinchillas next month. I think I am all set now except one question that I thought of today.
I'm putting my chinchillas in the basement, as it's the only sufficiently cold place and there's also room for me to make their play area right near their cage. I know chemicals from cleaners and such can be really bad for chinchillas, so I'm not going to use any cleaners down there. The only thing is, sometimes (usually in the winter) my family paints stuff, like furniture, in the basement. Are the paint fumes going to be harmful to my chinchillas? If they are, should I take the chinchillas out during the painting, and how long should I wait till I can put them back? Thanks so much!

[GrayRodent]

Fumes from paint are certainly harmful. I'd say if you can smell it so can your pet and many times stronger than you. Just make sure the smell is cleared out before returning them. If it's irritating (causing your eyes to water or your throat to become sore from breathing it) to you it's going to be very dangerous to them. So to ask how long between returning them I'll have to say it depends on how well ventilated the area is and how strong you perceive the smell to be. One issue you may run into though is that moving them around a lot can cause quite of stress to them. Make sure they are in a very peaceful environment for 2-3 weeks once you get them. Once they are used to you and their enironment you can work more with them but be careful not to habitually stress them or you could face health problems. Make sure to have good ventilation if you're going to be working with paint that is not considered to be non-toxic when wet of course for your protection as well. I advise painting outside instead.

[aprinceton]

Yeah, we are going to paint outside as much as possible. This would probably be a rare thing. I was just wondering what I should do if somebody needed to paint while the chinchillas were in the basement. Thanks!